'It will be the same culture after Ratan Tata retires'

Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, the Warwick-based engineer and academic who was a member of the panel that chose Cyrus Mistry as the next chairman of the Tata group of companies, says that the "same charitable culture" will continue in the company.

An IIT alumnus, Lord Bhattacharyya heads the influential Warwick Manufacturing Group based at the University of Warwick, and has held several positions in trade and industry, including as a scientific adviser to the South African government.

Known to be a close friend and adviser to the outgoing Chairman, Ratan Tata, Lord Bhattacharyya told The Sunday Times that there will be very little change to the Tata group's strategy or its philanthropic principles.

He said on the forthcoming change at the head of the company: "Ratan Tata is passionate about British manufacturing. There will be no change. It will be the same culture, the charitable culture."

Tata is set to retire in December, when Mistry will take over as his successor.

In a report titled, 'Tata's British empire', the Sunday Times noted that the Tata group is now Britain's biggest manufacturer, with 50,000 employees working for 19 companies in more than 40 towns and cities.

The history of Tata family's links to Britain go back to 1863, when Jamsetji Tata visited cotton mills in Lancashire.

The report recalled that Sir Ratan Tata, Jamsetji Tata's younger son, made a donation that enabled the London School of Economics to research poverty. This led to the creation of the Sir Ratan Tata department in 1912, which was to become the university's department of social sciences.

Its first lecturer was Clement Attlee, who went on to become UK's Prime Minister, the report noted.